


A Piercing Pain

by orphan_account



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pining, Platonic Stozier, Reddie, richie can’t handle pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21894688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which Richie Tozier and Stanley Uris find out Richie has a low pain tolerance.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 91





	A Piercing Pain

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off a headcanon posted by @/irlreddie on twitter which I kind of hijacked and turned into this
> 
> Anyway, follow me on twitter @/eddiekaspbrxk and recommend me fics and aus pls

“Hold still!”  
“How do you expect me to hold still when you-OW!”  
“Dammit, Richie! It will hurt less if you just stop moving your head!”  
Stan struggled to hold Richie in place and get into a good position to pierce his ears, but Richie would keep moving and Stan couldn’t keep him in place while poking the needle through his ear lobe. Hey, he only has two hands after all!  
“Tell me again why you didn’t let me invite Eddie or Bev to help?” Stan huffed, tossing the needle and the ice pack onto the table next to them. Richie had asked his friend to help him pierce his ears because he had seen some musician with them on a magazine cover and thought it looked cool. However, he underestimated how painful it would be without the proper materials, so it was taking a lot longer than anticipated.  
They were set up in Stan’s bathroom, having gathered the materials the day before from a craft store. Neither had ever done it, but it couldn’t be that hard, right?  
Richie could feel the heat rising in his cheeks at Stan’s question. “I, uh- wanted it to be a surprise?” He winced, hearing how unconvincing it was even to his own ears, but he couldn’t admit the truth out loud. Stan just smirked at the blushing boy and shook his head a little bit before grabbing the ice pack again.  
“Okay, I’m going to try numbing it for a lot longer this time, maybe it will help mask the pain,” Stan said, bringing the ice to Richie’s left ear lobe. He held it there for a minute, trying his best to guess how long it would take to numb someone’s ear, before removing it again and picking up the needle once more. He positioned it over the small dot in the center of Richie’s lobe, holding an old wine cork on the back side of it.  
“Ready?” Stan asked, looking his friend in the eye to make sure he was okay with this. Richie gave a little nod.  
“Ready.”  
Stan pressed the needle up against Richie’s ear lobe and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he started to push it into the skin until-  
“Ouch! Stopstopstopstopstopohmygodthathurtssobad!” Richie yelled out, dancing in place a little bit and holding his ear. Stan exhaled more sharply and tossed the tools to the side once again, rolling his eyes.  
“Get in my car,” Stan said bluntly and grabbed his keys off the hook by the front door.  
“Why? Are you going to murder me in the woods or something?” Richie trotted after Stan. “Because, shit, man, I didn’t realize I got on your nerves that badly. You could’ve said no, I would tot-”  
“Beep beep, Richie.” Stan rolled his eyes again and slammed the drivers’ side door to his mom’s minivan. “We’re going to the mall.”

Twenty minutes later, the two teens were strolling through the second floor of the Penobscot Mall, Richie trailing behind. He had no idea why Stan had dragged him here, especially when they were supposed to be piercing his ears right now. It dawned on him as he saw the familiar purple font up ahead.  
“Fuck no, man. I am not going to fucking Claire’s to get my ears pierced. Uh-uh. No way. Not Happening.” Richie shook his head vigorously, stopping in his tracks. Stan huffed and turned around.  
“Dude, if you want to get this done, this is the only way you’re going to do it. You’re too much of a wuss to let me do it, so this is your only option,” Stan reasoned.  
“We can always go to that tattoo parlor in Bangor. You know, the one with the hot artist?” Richie smirked. “Maybe while we’re at it I can-”  
“No.” Stan stared at Richie, an intense look that said if you finish that thought I will destroy your bloodline, you obnoxious bastard. “Look, if you don’t want to get your ears pierced at Claire’s, then that’s fine. You don’t have to.”  
“Thank go-”  
“BUT,” Stanley cut back in. “But, you’re going to have to ask someone else to pierce them for you, because I mentally cannot put myself through that again. You are so wriggly and frustrating.” Richie debated for a minute or two, glancing between his best friend and the girly purple store advertising these neon pink friendship bracelets that were on sale for 50% off!  
Finally, Richie sighed. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Ten minutes later, Richie was sitting by the open store front, his back to the plate glass window as he sat in the high chair. In one hand, he gripped the teddy bear they had for the young girls who were nervous to get their ears pierced for the first time. The woman had gone into the back room, so Richie was feeling twitchy and anxious. Stan was a few feet away, browsing the different earring choices for future Richie.  
“You can get these danglies that have swallows on them!” Stan announced excitedly, turning around to show them to Richie. His bright smile drooped a little as he saw how pale and slightly green Richie had turned. “Hey, you okay?”  
Richie nodded quickly, gripping the teddy bear a little harder. “I’m just peachy, Staniel. Nothing to worry about here.” He tried to slip into one of his Voices, the southern gentlemen, but his heart was in his throat and he felt like throwing up and he couldn’t force his vocal cords to cooperate.  
“Heyheyhey, calm down. Richie, you don’t have to do this. You know that, right? I’m not actually going to judge you if you can’t go through with it.” Stan grabbed his hand, squeezing slightly. “But remember, I’m right here with you. If you want, I’ll hold your hand the whole time and you can squeeze as hard as you need to. I don’t mind.”  
Richie smiled weakly. “Thanks, Stan the Man.”  
The door to the back room squeaked as it opened again, the woman returned with a pair of rubber gloves and a small box in her hands. Richie’s heart constricted a little, the nerves coming on full force. Stan must have heard his breathing pick up, because he started murmuring words of encouragement and gave his hand another gentle squeeze.  
“Hi there! Richie, right? My name is Heather. Are you ready to get your ears pierced?” The woman was smiling brightly at him as she pulled on her gloves and grabbed a bottle of Claire’s ear solution to clean all of her tools and Richie’s ears.  
He squeezed his eyes tightly shut during the procedure, anticipating the sharp pain of the needle on his still-sensitive ears, so when he felt Stan start to let go of his hand, Richie gripped harder, trying to keep him in place.  
“Richie. Richie! It’s over, can I have my hand back now?” Richie opened his eyes slowly, giving Stan a disbelieving look.  
“It’s...over?” He reached a hand up and touched his right ear, feeling the earring on both sides of his ear, still not sure that it was done. “That’s it? I didn’t even feel a thing!”  
“That’s what she said,” Stan said, almost instinctively. The two boys made eye contact before bursting into laughter.

The next day, Richie and Stan were walking into school together, chatting about nothing. They were heading towards their normal meeting spot, the place where they met with the other Losers before school started to catch up about each other’s lives.  
Richie was feeling confident that morning, ready to show off his newly pierced ears, so he wore a confident outfit. He had his contacts in instead of his enormous glasses, along with a comfortable pair of well-worn jeans and a pale purple button-up shirt over an old concert shirt for The Kinks that he got from a thrift store. It was simple, but it was some of his favorite clothes and made him feel good, so he thought, why not?  
Stan and Richie were about a hundred feet away from the back entrance to the school, where they could see the other five Losers were all already standing. Richie raised his arm in a slight wave, seeing Eddie wave back. Richie blushed a little, an unconscious smile creeping onto his lips. Something about the shorter, feral boy made him feel giddy and happy.

Eddie lowered his arm, smiling at his best friend as he got closer to the group. No matter how much he complained and bitched about Richie and his jokes, he secretly loved it when he called him ‘Eds’ and felt irrationally angry whenever Richie paid more attention to one of the others instead of him.  
“You okay there, Eddie?” Beverly asked, grinning knowingly at him. Eddie turned to look at her, a quizzical look on his face.  
“Of course I’m okay, what do you mean?”  
“You’re staring at Richie again,” Mike pointed out. Eddie reddened and looked away. He knew what he felt for Richie was wrong - his mother told him often enough - but he couldn’t help it. Richie made him happy, and that was sometimes very difficult to do.  
“It-it’s okay, Ed-Eddie. We aren’t j-judging you,” Bill said. Eddie just shook his head.  
He turned back to look at Richie and Stan, and they were much closer now. Close enough for Eddie to see something glinting at Richie’s ears, something that looked a lot like-  
“Did you pierce your ears?!” Eddie exclaimed, staring at him incredulously. Richie grinned broadly, staring right back at Eddie.  
“Yeah, you like it?”  
Eddie was at a loss for words. On the one hand, he wanted to slap him and explain all the germs and possible infections he was opening his body to, but on the other he really, really, really wanted to grab his face and kiss him. Hard.  
The other Losers were complimenting him, and Eddie just vaguely heard what they were saying. Richie was thanking them all, but his eyes never left Eddie’s.  
“You’re going to catch flies like that,” Richie said softly to him, the others dispersing to their own conversations. Eddie snapped his jaw shut and took a few steps closer. He tentatively reached a hand up and touched the cubic zirconium stud in Richie’s left ear. He saw Richie’s Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed.  
“It’s a little tender still, so be careful.”  
“Always,” Eddie breathed out. He glanced at Richie’s lips before meeting his eyes again. “You look so…” he trailed off.  
“Disgusting?” Eddie shook his head.  
“Hot.”


End file.
